Country Singer, Darius Rucker, Attacked For Singing ‘White Christmas’ A Block Away From The Eric Garner Protest
When country music star Darius Rucker performed “White Christmas” at the annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony at the Rockerfeller Center he could hardly imagine that it would cause such a firestorm on social media.
Darius Rucker was accused of being a race traitor for singing the Christmas classic “White Christmas” due to the mere reference of the word ‘white’ and unfortunate coincidence following the news that an NYPD officer will not be indicted for the chokehold death of Eric Garner.
Earlier, according to CBS New York, protesters had arrived at Rockefeller Plaza from Times Square by 6:15 p.m. Some were on the sidewalk chanting and holding signs, as others crowded the area for the annual holiday event.
But the NYPD would not let the protesters get anywhere near the Christmas tree.
Darius gave one of the best performances of the night and was well received by the audience however, the 48-year-old was vilified on the internet for his version of the White Christmas.
Darius quickly became a hot topic on twitter shortly after.
Darius Rucker/Hootie just sang “I’m Dreaming Of A White Christmas” at the tree-lighting ceremony. Because America is fucking with us all
— Baratunde (@baratunde) December 4, 2014
Darius Rucker singing White Christmas in Rockefeller Center. One block over, streets shut down for Eric Garner. Utterly surreal.
— Rich Villar (@elprofe316) December 4, 2014
Darius Rucker On TV singing “Im dreaming of a White Christmas” In NY Like He Free In America. We tired of These ‘White” Christmases
— BraekHaven (@HicklenJeremiah) December 4, 2014
Darius Rucker is literally singing about a White Christmas in Rockefeller Center right now. This is beyond parody. #EricGarner
— Josh Jones (@Josh5Jones) December 4, 2014
There’s something disturbing about Darius Rucker singing White Christmas on a day with another non-indictment #BlackLivesMatter
— Lynn Nichols (@lynnmg) December 4, 2014
The irony of watching Darius Rucker singing “White Christmas” around the corner from the #EricGarner protest is mind-blowing #ShutItDown
— Bryon Vann (@Bryon_Vann) December 4, 2014
Darius Rucker is singing “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” at Rockefeller Center right now so I think we can call it for humanity folks.
— Jesse Berney (@jesseberney) December 4, 2014
Despite the ruckus online, Darius made the most of his night.
Lookie who we ran into backstage at #RockCenterXMAS! The one and only Mr @dariusrucker! pic.twitter.com/3FbqublpVB
— Rockettes (@Rockettes) December 4, 2014
Recently, Rucker spoke about the excitement of releasing his first Christmas album, Home For The Holidays. which he calls a modern twist of Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Johnny Mathis.
“The label has been asking for the last four or five years if I was going to do a Christmas record. My producer and I were ready to do it. We wanted to do something special, so we got together and made it.”
Rucker continued, “We wanted to have a little something for everybody. We wanted to make a crooner record with that old Frank Sinatra/Bing Crosby/Johnny Mathis kind of way, but we also wanted a couple of things that could be for the younger audience. As it came together, I became more and more excited.”
Was Darius Rucker’s “White Christmas” insensitive given the close proximity of the Eric Garner protests?
[Image via Google Images]
